Locke & Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft

Locke & Key Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
Writer: Joe Hill, Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez, Colors: Jay Fotos

Premise: Tyler, Kinsey and Bode are the Locke kids. They live in California. Or they did, until tragedy befell their family. Now they're moving to Lovecraft Massachusetts, to live in Keyhouse. Keyhouse is full of secrets, though, and some danger can follow you across the country, or across time...

This is a scary, creepy thriller in comic form, although I actually think I was a little spoiled by reading the Free Comic Book Day offering from this series last year. Because that meant I knew going in about the magic keys of Keyhouse, that lead to different places, or powers, or more. This volume is building the human story, so it takes a little while to get to most of the explicitly paranormal stuff.

It's interesting, but it's also bloody, gruesome, and full of broken people who make me a bit heartsick to read about. I liked the pacing, overall, and I like the way different issues highlight the different kids, and explore how they're handling their traumas.

I do think it spends a little too long with the trope where no one believes the one person who notices something seriously spooky is going on.

It reminds me some of the early sections of Sandman that I'm not as keen on, and there are echoes of Stephen King-like themes. (No surprises there, despite the pen name, “Joe Hill” is King's son.)

It's well done, but I didn't actually enjoy reading it that much. I think the series gets better, but I kept getting frustrated with characters making stupid – if justifiable – decisions. There was just too much dramatic irony (where the reader knows more than the characters) for me to fully empathize with the characters' point of view.

2 Stars – An Okay Book